CCA’s for-profit immigrant prison in Youngstown has been plagued with violence and inhumane conditions ever since CCA took control of it in 1997. In their first year in charge there, CCA oversaw multiple stabbings, two murders and six escapes.

Living conditions got so bad at one point that the city sued CCA on behalf of the prisoners, and standards have not improved much since. Youngstown is not alone: the private prison in Raymondville, Texas, is merely an outdoor tent city stuffed with non-citizen prisoners and surrounded by razor and concertina wire.

The ACLU’s report found dirty, crowded cells crawling with insects and overflowing toilets that threatened prisoner health daily. Raymondville’s immigrant prison is so bad it earned the nickname “Ritmo” (as in Gitmo).

Private prisons are home to such abysmal conditions because of their profit incentive. They make millions off of government contracts and boost profits by cutting costs. This leads to understaffing security and medical personnel, giving prisoners little hope for their safety and rehabilitation.

The problem is the private prison industry’s business model of using our public funds to profit from high incarceration rates, and the inhumane treatment of prisoners; and it isn’t limited to immigrant detention.

Please look into Sean Swain 243205 He is in OSP and has been in isolation for 2 years.His crime is a spectacle.He was living with a girl who had a child with the guy Sean killed in self defense.The guy kicked Seans door in and threatened to kill him.Hand behind his head.The guy,Andrew Crouch was the nephew to the Clerk of Courts in Erie county.The file is there and if you send Sean a visitation he will ok you.The rest of the story reads like a horror. Collette ,the victims aunt rigged the jury pool and replaced his public defender and helped the defender to get a judgeship in municipal court.The case was rigged through out It was allowed by the judge to prejudice the jury. Sean is a political prisoner.He was given life at the tender age of 21..He is a writer and a jailhouse lawyer.Sean is talented and a joy to know He has had many constitutional rights taken away,latele it is free speech.Wanna see a guy who got the shaft,Look at Sean Swain

Yes, I know the industry isn’t confined (“confined”, get it? ;) to immigrant detention and CCA wouldn’t “go broke” without it (I was being somewhat facetious), although it sure would take a big chunk out of their bottom line and wouldn’t that be nice?

The particular facility that the article and petition are about is specifically for immigrant detention, so I concentrated on that. If you want to expand the discussion to private prisons in general, I’m against them.

Where am I “blaming the victim”? The prisoners are not to blame for the conditions at the facility.

The particular facility that the article and petition are about is specifically for immigrant detention, so I concentrated on that. If you want to expand the discussion to private prisons in general, I’m against them.

The post is actually about one specific private prison, the Youngstown facility operated by CCA, whose contract is up for renewal. It happens to house primarily (though not exclusively) immigrants, because they need minimal security and it’s easier to make a profit that way.

“The post is actually about one specific private prison”
Isn’t that what I said?

“It happens to house primarily (though not exclusively) immigrants”
OK, so the “troubled immigrant detention center” has other types of prisoners as well. So what?

Illegal immigrants only “need minimal security”?
Multiple stabbings, two murders and six escapes in one year?

Admittedly, my first post was more of a sardonic remark than a genuine analysis, but is there anything flawed in it’s premise? If we didn’t have an illegal immigration problem we wouldn’t have an illegal immigrant detention problem.